Rural Small Town Fiction

26 ans de Marine nationale, 91 ans de mauvaise foi... Quand Zoé, 17 ans, emménage dans le Finistère chez un oncle qu’elle connait à peine, elle ne décolère pas. Pour la lycéenne solitaire qui ne rêve que d’Amérique et de voyages, la petite ville de Saint-Renan ressemble à son pire cauchemar. Déterminée à en partir dès que possible, elle compte les jours qui la séparent de sa liberté. Mais toutes ses certitudes sont mises à rude épreuve par Pierre, son voisin nonagénaire au caractère bien trempé.

Middlemarch is a novel by the English author Mary Anne Evans, who wrote as George Eliot. It first appeared in eight installments in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midland town, from 1829 to 1832, it follows distinct, intersecting stories with many characters. Issues include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Despite comic elements, Middlemarch uses realism to encompass historical events.

On the eve of a new year, Catherine Glick is expecting her bu of five years to propose. Instead, the unexpected arrival of an old boyfriend, Elijah, sends her life spiraling out of control. When a rash decision damages her current relationship, Catherine leaves for Florida to work in her cousin's bakery - anything to flee the source of her shame. Elijah Graber knows he hurt Catherine when he left their Amish district six years ago. He's determined to explain his actions, even if it means following her to Florida.

Quentin's at the top of his game. He's the nightly news anchor for the biggest broadcast company in the United States. On top of that, he has three beautiful children and a wonderful wife, Catherine. What more could he want? Life isn't done with him yet. Out of the blue, his wife is diagnosed with cancer, and Quentin finds himself reeling. With Catherine so sick, his career no longer matters to him, and his father's invitation to Nantucket is looking more and more appealing. Maybe he should take his family out of the city for a while.

Returning to my hometown was never part of my plan. Suddenly, I find myself back where I grew up and taking over my late parents' beloved plant store. With a permanent scowl and zero customer service skills, I have no idea how to run a business—or keep plants alive. One night, a wild dog crashes into my store, creating an absolute mess in its path. The owner? Confident, charismatic, and utterly captivating. He's determined to break down my carefully constructed walls one brick at a time.

The first time I saw Grayson Phillips, I fell. Tripped, to be specific. His seven-year-old self saved me from scraped knees and sentenced me to a fate of pining after my brother’s best friend for years. People change. Childish crushes fade. I’m an adult now, a doctor with more important things to worry about. I gave up on the boy next door ever loving me a long time ago. Or so I thought…until he returns to our hometown on leave from the Air Force. For the first time, not everything between us feels one-sided. That doesn’t make it matter. He’ll take off soon—literally.

I wasn’t looking for love. Putting down roots in this small, Southern town was the last thing on my mind. Ben changed all that with his kind nature and gentle ways. Somehow, he painted over the cracks on the canvas of my heart. Never did I feel more alive than with my arms around his waist on the back of his motorcycle and my hair blowing in the wind. But I was a nobody. To his family of wealth and privilege, I wasn’t worthy of him. And they were willing to do whatever it took to drive us apart.

Soon after banker Willard Carmichael and his young bride arrive in Pickax, a string of petty burglaries follow. Then Willard meets his demise—an apparent victim of a mugging—and the banker's home restoration project goes to the widow's cousin. Though the clues are as elusive as a cat burglar, the suspicious Qwill and his feline companions, Koko and Yum Yum, are determined to catch a thief—and a killer.

Award-winning wildlife photographer Elijah Ellis has come back home due to the tragic accident that killed members of both his and his best friend Tabitha Brodie's family. Despite their grief, Eli hopes that he and Tabby can pick up their familiar friendship. Tabby has always loved Eli. He's everything she wants in a man. But he left Gatlinburg to make a name for himself outside of his famous family. She refuses to be an anchor to a life he never wanted. As Eli and Tabby spend more time together, he's determined to show her they could be perfect together.

Cathy Terry is tired of running. Full of fear and hope, she backpacked across the country to Blessings, Georgia, not knowing if or when her abusive ex-husband would catch up to her. In Blessings she glimpses a safe haven and the closest feeling to home she's had in a long time - even more so when she meets Duke Talbot. The sweet, strong, and handsome rancher provides a shoulder to lean on. The stakes get higher as the community embraces her and her relationship with Duke deepens - but can Cathy claim a new home and family before her past claims her?

After the sudden death of his father, Jordan Pearce reluctantly takes over the family’s generations-old oyster-farming business on Louisiana's Gulf Coast. He’s still adjusting to the new role when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explodes offshore, triggering one of the worst environmental disasters in history and throwing his hardscrabble coastal town into crisis.

"You don't know me yet, but in a few hours that's going to change. You see, I'm inviting you to my home and my town of Cedar Cove, because I want you to meet my family, friends, and neighbors. Come and hear their stories - maybe even their secrets!"

Jacqueline thought she already had her happy-ever-after—until her husband left her for a woman who could give him a child (and already had). Now she's divorced and working herself to the bone to pay off the mortgage on a house that will never be full of the children she dreamed of. Jacqueline doesn't know what to expect when she responds to an emergency call-out during a storm, but it's nothing like this: three lost children who can turn into seals, and a ruggedly handsome man who makes her blood run hotter than it ever has before.

In a small, isolated town on the North Norfolk coast, Fran's life is unravelling. As she fills her days cleaning the caravan park she owns, she is preoccupied by worry — about the behavior of her son, the growing absence of her husband and the strained relationship with her sister. Her one source of solace is slipping out to the beach early in the morning, to watch the birds.

Maren Walker told herself she wouldn’t need to sell pills for long, that it was only means to an end. But that end seems to be stretching as far away as the other side of Blackdamp County, Kentucky. There’s always another bill for Granny’s doctor, another problem with the car, another reason she’s getting nowhere. She dreams of walking through her little door to leave it all behind. The doors have appeared to the people in her mountain town for as long as anyone can remember, though no one knows where they lead. All anyone knows is that if you go, you’ll never come back.

Ivy Yoder hasn't heard from John King in over a year. She knows it's time to let go of the idea that they will one day marry, but she's humiliated to be one of the oldest single women in her Amish community of Birch Creek. When quirky Cevilla Schlabach asks her to help clean out an attic, Ivy is grateful for the distraction.

It is All Souls Day, and the spirit of Marcus Conway sits at his kitchen table and remembers. In flowing, relentless prose, Conway recalls his life in rural Ireland: as a boy and man, father, husband, citizen. His ruminations move from childhood memories of his father's deftness with machines to his own work as a civil engineer, from transformations in the local economy to the tidal wave of global financial collapse. Conway's thoughts go still further, outward to the vast systems of time and history that hold us all.

Daisy Murray was our best friend, the girl of our dreams, and the glue that held us all together. But our town hosted an evil presence, and it wanted Daisy all for itself. One night, it took her from us, and she was erased from history. On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, we are summoned home—back to the tainted town—by the ghost of the girl we all loved. It should be impossible, but there's no chance any of us are willing to miss the opportunity to see her again.

Martha Detweiler has a problem many Amish women her age would envy: She’s the only single woman in a community of young men, and they’re all competing for her favor. Overwhelmed by the unwanted attention, Martha finds herself constantly fleeing from her would-be suitors, dismayed at what her life has come to. Birch Creek’s resident matchmaker, Cevilla Schlabach, suggests a solution: Martha and the bishop’s son, Seth Yoder, should pretend they are dating.

Emily is growing up as a talented, unique person with great insight, wit, and imagination, and conveying it in poetry and her diary.